This recipe brought to you from Michelin- starred Nieves Barragan is the perfect way to kick off the BBQ season. Recognised as a delicacy amongst chefs, the meaty texture of monkfish makes it easy to grill without flaking. Served with Nieves’ own romesco sauce and wild garlic butter. Bring a taste of Spain to your grill this summer paired with an ice cold Estrella Galicia Lager.

Instructions

For the wild garlic butter:

  1. Put wild garlic leaves, unsalted butter and salt & pepper into a blender and blend until the texture is smooth. Roll out the butter into a cylinder in cling film, at a diameter of a 50p coin. Leave in the fridge to harden. Can be done up to two days prior and any additional can be kept in the freezer for up to one month.

For the romesco sauce:

  1. Place the dried chilli and dried peppers into a bowl of warm water, letting them soak for 2 hours.
  2. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Place the plum tomatoes into a tray and drizzle with a touch of olive oil. On the same tray place the garlic, wrapped in foil with a little olive oil. Roast for about 20 minutes.
  3. Just before removing the tomatoes and garlic from the oven place the almonds on a roasting tray and roast for 2 minutes.
  4. Whilst the vegetables are roasting, pan fry the bread on both sides, with some olive oil, until golden brown.
  5. Once all ready, remove the garlic from its shell by squeezing down with your fingers into a blender, bring together all other ingredients and blend until smooth. Place the sauce to the side until ready to plate up your dish.

For the monkfish:

  1. Take the monkfish tail and with a knife, make two neat lines next to the large bone in the centre, one in each side of the fish. Tails can be prepped a few hours ahead and chilled.
  2. Remove the fish from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. Cover the fish with a thin coating of olive oil, this will stop it sticking to the BBQ. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  3. When your BBQ is ready, place the monkfish into a BBQ grill basket or directly onto the BBQ. Cook for 3 minutes. After this time flip the fish, the fish should release easily, if not, leave for another minute before flipping. Once flipped, cook for another 3-4 minutes. When cooked the fish will turn an opaque white colour.
  4. When the fish is done put the wild garlic butter on top cut in ring of ½ cm, the butter it will start to melt on the fish.

To plate:

  1. Spread a generous helping of the romesco sauce in each plate and place the cooked monkfish tail on top, if you have any garlic flowers these can be used as decoration.
  2. Serve and enjoy with an Estrella Galicia Cerveza Lager.

Prep time – 30 minutes (plus 2 hour soaking and chilling time) 

Cooking time – 20 minutes 

Serves – 4

Ingredients

Grilled monkfish:

4 x Monkfish tail 400g

Salt & pepper

Wild garlic butter:

60g wild garlic leaves

125g unsalted butter

Romesco sauce:

1 dried chilli

4 dried choricero or ancho chilli peppers

5 plum tomatoes

100ml olive oil

1 whole garlic, cut 1/4 to a 1/2 inch from the top of cloves

100g whole blanch almonds

1 slice of sourdough bread

50ml sherry vinegar

 

 

PAIR WITH

Estrella Galicia Cerveza Lager
A traditional flavour of marked bitterness and refreshing aftertaste.
Available from: Sainsbury´s, Waitrose, Majestic, Ocado and Greene King online.